🔗 Share this article

Despite all excitement surrounding the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Lando Norris is maintaining a level head about his chances of claiming his maiden drivers' championship.

Norris currently has a 24-point advantage over teammate Oscar Piastri and leads Max Verstappen by 49 points, with just a maximum of eighty-three points available across the final three events. However, after pulling off a extraordinary comeback from 34 points behind his teammate following the Zandvoort race in August, Norris is focused on performing with the clinical precision that lifted him to the lead of the championship.

"Things can quickly turn the opposite way once more even though I hope it doesn't," he commented. "That's racing, you know. Sometimes you also have luck. Other times you also be unlucky. No matter what happens. It's no point getting excited or thinking about it. I continue to do see it as something that remains distant."

The 26-year-old has discovered his peak performance at a crucial moment—having struggled with the vehicle in the first part of the season—while his teammate has shed the controlled, nearly flawless ease that had for so long made him appear to be a future title winner. Notably, Norris kept a impressive level of composure all along, insisting despite setbacks—such as his withdrawal from the Zandvoort race—that he would adhere to his strategy and approach every outing with the identical relentless focus on specifics. This approach has yielded results.

Meanwhile, McLaren have gone to no little effort to try to maintain a level playing field for their two drivers, and it has on occasion been a rather difficult experience, especially at the Italian Grand Prix when the team instructed Piastri to surrender the runner-up spot to his teammate after he had lost the spot because of a delayed tire change. Some fans did not take well to what was seen as McLaren unnecessarily manipulating their drivers.

The championship leader has claimed victory in the previous pair of grands prix, in Mexico and Brazil, and was booed on the podium at both, leaving him unmoved. "Once you are leading, many individuals want to bring you down. They do not want to see you winning. I see it as a good thing," he said.

"It makes me laugh. While standing on the winner's stage in Interlagos, I truly enjoyed it. It was quite satisfying. At last you sense that you are achieving success.

"I don't mind, as long as I come out on top. As long as I believe I am competing the right way, and I think I am, so long as I am confident I am dedicating effort into remaining true to myself and those kinds of things, then I am not concerned with external opinions."

Vegas, meanwhile, must be conquered, and it is not a track ideal for the British team. It shares similarities with Canada and Baku: low downforce, cool temperatures, and slippery surfaces. They are the sole pair of circuits this season where McLaren have been unable to claim at least one podium place, and the leader was circumspect once more about their prospects in Nevada. Yet, his objective in the immediate future is simple: finish in front of his teammate and the championship tally he needs will follow.

Friday Running Shows Varied Results for Championship Contenders

The Ferrari driver led the times in FP1 on what was still a sandy and very low-grip track. The Williams racer was runner-up, with the Red Bull star in fourth, the McLaren ace in P6, and Piastri in eighth. In the more indicative night running of second practice, Norris was quickest ahead of the Silver Arrows of Kimi Antonelli, with his teammate down in fourteenth; however, the practice was interrupted for almost all of the final 20 minutes of running to check a reported loose drain cover at turn 17.

The issue is treated with caution on a street circuit where, at the first Nevada GP held in 2023, a loose manhole struck the Ferrari, heavily damaging it and causing the session to be aborted.

Mercedes Announce Stake Transaction

The eight-time constructors' champions have confirmed that their boss the Austrian executive has sold a 15% stake in his investment firm, representing a 5% share in the team, to US tycoon George Kurtz. Kurtz is the CEO and founder of the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. Wolff will remain as team principal and may receive up to £230 million from the sale, with the Brackley-based outfit having been appraised at £4.57bn, a new high for an F1 team.